Some members of the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Commission wanted an answer as to whether the department would be staying together by Tuesday night.

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By MICHAEL SADOWSKI

poconorecord.com

By MICHAEL SADOWSKI

Posted Feb. 13, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By MICHAEL SADOWSKI

Posted Feb. 13, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

Some members of the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Commission wanted an answer as to whether the department would be staying together by Tuesday night.

They didn't get it.

Neither the representatives from Coolbaugh Township officials nor Mount Pocono Borough gave a definitive answer Tuesday as to whether they fully intend to leave the department by the end of the year.

Commission Chairman John Kerrick had asked both to give an answer by Tuesday as to whether they planned to follow through with their intend-to-withdraw letters they filed in December that would be effective at the start of 2014.

"I'm disappointed," Kerrick said. "I was hoping there would be an answer. Now we'll try for March."

Coolbaugh Township tried to amend its intent-to-withdraw letter last week by extending the current police union contract one year and put off any township withdrawal decision to March 31, 2014.

However, Harry Coleman, the commission's solicitor, said as far as he could tell, the amendment to the letter is "meaningless" in the eyes of the commission.

He said the agreement between the department's four municipalities — Mount Pocono Borough and Coolbaugh, Tobyhanna and Tunkhannock townships — spells out exactly what the procedure is to leave, and amending the letter isn't part of the procedure.

"Either (a municipality) is leaving, or it's not leaving," he said. "It's that simple."

Mount Pocono officials have said they plan to take until June to decide if they will stay or not.

John Adams, commission member and Coolbaugh Township Board of Supervisors Chairman, said he still believes the township can work out its differences.

Adams has asked about the possibility of a substation of the department in Coolbaugh Township since he said it could take the department "15 to 20 minutes" to get to a crime in the township from the headquarters located on Route 940 in Pocono Summit.

"And hopefully, the township will grow from this experience," he said.

The intent-to-leave letter doesn't automatically mean the municipalities will leave. They have the rest of the year to make their official decision.

However, Kerrick had asked for a more immediate answer so the commission can negotiate with its police union, whose contract is up at the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Chief Harry Lewis brought in some reinforcements to extol the virtues of the department in Monroe County District Attorney David Christine.

While Christine said he recognized the individual challenges of the municipalities, he said losing the regional police department would send the mountain area "backwards."

He said if it is Coolbaugh Township's intent to form its own police department, it's a step back more than two decades to more simplistic police coverage that has trouble surviving in today's world.

"To go back in time to the '80s, to have a department with two, five or nine people cobbled together, you lose the specialization, and I think it's going to be a disaster," Christine said.

Christine said when he gets the late-night calls about a major crime in the county, he "breathes easier" when he hears that it's Pocono Mountain Regional's territory.